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1
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,074
Advertise your product or brand here
contact www.SubtitleDB.org today
2
00:00:50,489 --> 00:00:52,400
. Your first trip to London?
. Yes.
3
00:00:53,529 --> 00:00:55,201
Want a word of advice?
4
00:00:55,529 --> 00:00:56,757
Don't trust the cab drivers.
5
00:00:56,849 --> 00:00:59,124
They'll take you five miles
to go three blocks.
6
00:00:59,689 --> 00:01:02,362
And don't waste your time
looking at a street map.
7
00:01:03,209 --> 00:01:06,884
Nobody can find their way around London.
Not even Londoners.
8
00:01:07,489 --> 00:01:09,559
Maybe I should go to Baltimore instead.
9
00:01:09,889 --> 00:01:10,685
No.
10
00:01:11,049 --> 00:01:12,402
You'll enjoy it.
11
00:01:13,249 --> 00:01:14,841
London's a great place.
12
00:01:15,489 --> 00:01:17,923
What kind of trip is it,
business or pleasure?
13
00:01:19,049 --> 00:01:20,528
Unfinished business.
14
00:03:12,969 --> 00:03:14,004
Taxi!
15
00:03:19,129 --> 00:03:20,244
Where to, luv?
16
00:03:20,329 --> 00:03:22,445
84 Charing Cross Road.
17
00:04:14,529 --> 00:04:18,044
Gentlemen: Your ad in the
Saturday Review of Literature...
18
00:04:18,729 --> 00:04:22,358
...says that you specialise
in out-of-print books.
19
00:04:24,209 --> 00:04:25,767
They're all pretty uncommon.
20
00:04:25,849 --> 00:04:29,000
I don't want Isaiah's personal copy
of the Old Testament.
21
00:04:29,089 --> 00:04:31,364
These are famous books
by famous writers!
22
00:04:31,449 --> 00:04:35,681
They're British books by British writers.
Nobody asks for them anymore.
23
00:04:36,329 --> 00:04:37,557
Try Scribner's.
24
00:04:37,689 --> 00:04:41,238
I did. Everything is so fancy over there.
25
00:04:41,329 --> 00:04:43,126
Haven't you got any cheap editions?
26
00:04:43,209 --> 00:04:44,722
Some, but not the ones you want.
27
00:04:44,849 --> 00:04:45,918
I'm sorry.
28
00:04:48,089 --> 00:04:50,649
It's the fourth bookstore
I've been to this morning.
29
00:04:50,769 --> 00:04:53,647
Doesn't anyone read
English literature in New York?
30
00:05:07,649 --> 00:05:08,968
Saturday Review.
31
00:05:24,209 --> 00:05:27,007
October 5, 1949.
32
00:05:27,489 --> 00:05:30,925
To Marks & Co., 84 Charing Cross Road.
33
00:05:31,369 --> 00:05:34,725
London WC2, England.
34
00:05:36,289 --> 00:05:37,358
Gentlemen:
35
00:05:37,489 --> 00:05:40,083
Your ad in the Saturday Review
of Literature says...
36
00:05:40,169 --> 00:05:42,967
...that you specialise in out-of-print books.
37
00:05:43,569 --> 00:05:48,404
The phrase "antiquarian booksellers"
scares me somewhat...
38
00:05:48,489 --> 00:05:50,878
...as I equate "antique" with expensive.
39
00:05:50,969 --> 00:05:54,325
I'm a poor writer
with an antiquarian taste in books.
40
00:05:54,889 --> 00:05:57,642
All the things I want
are impossible to get over here.
41
00:05:57,729 --> 00:06:00,118
Except in very expensive, rare editions.
42
00:06:00,809 --> 00:06:03,687
I enclose a list of my most
pressing problems.
43
00:06:03,889 --> 00:06:07,677
If you have clean, second-hand copies
of any of the books on the list...
44
00:06:07,769 --> 00:06:11,239
...for no more than $5 each,
will you consider this a purchase order...
45
00:06:11,329 --> 00:06:12,967
...and send them to me?
46
00:06:13,169 --> 00:06:14,841
Very truly yours...
47
00:06:15,809 --> 00:06:17,003
...Helene Hanff.
48
00:06:20,489 --> 00:06:21,638
Dear Madam:
49
00:06:24,289 --> 00:06:27,725
In reply to your letter of October 5...
50
00:06:28,769 --> 00:06:32,398
...we have managed to clear up
two. Thirds of your problem.
51
00:06:36,529 --> 00:06:39,601
The three Hazlitt essays you want
are contained in the...
52
00:06:39,849 --> 00:06:42,647
...Nonesuch Press edition
of his Selected Essays.
53
00:06:45,409 --> 00:06:47,479
And the Stevenson is found in...
54
00:06:48,929 --> 00:06:51,568
...Virginibus Puerisque.
55
00:07:01,249 --> 00:07:06,562
We are sending nice copies by book post
and trust they will arrive safely...
56
00:07:06,649 --> 00:07:09,117
...and that you will be pleased with them.
57
00:07:10,129 --> 00:07:12,643
Our invoice is enclosed with the books.
58
00:07:13,769 --> 00:07:16,886
The Leigh Hunt essays won't be so easy.
59
00:07:17,249 --> 00:07:20,958
But we'll try to find an attractive volume
with them all in.
60
00:07:21,769 --> 00:07:24,237
We haven't the Latin Bible you describe...
61
00:07:24,329 --> 00:07:28,800
...but we have a Latin New Testament,
also a Greek New Testament.
62
00:07:29,209 --> 00:07:32,042
Ordinary modern editions in cloth binding.
63
00:07:33,049 --> 00:07:34,562
Would you like these?
64
00:07:35,769 --> 00:07:39,045
Yours faithfully, FPD, for Marks & Co.
65
00:07:49,849 --> 00:07:51,328
. Helene Hanff.
- Hi, it's me.
66
00:07:51,409 --> 00:07:54,162
. Hi, Maxine.
- Wait till I tell you what happened.
67
00:07:54,249 --> 00:07:56,604
I can't talk now. I slept through my alarm.
68
00:07:56,689 --> 00:07:58,520
- Call you tonight?
. Okay, fine.
69
00:07:58,609 --> 00:08:00,247
Call you later, bye. Bye.
70
00:08:28,809 --> 00:08:31,881
14 East 95th Street, New York City.
71
00:08:32,089 --> 00:08:33,727
November 3, 1949.
72
00:08:34,649 --> 00:08:38,688
Gentlemen: The books arrived safely.
73
00:08:39,329 --> 00:08:43,686
The Stevenson is so fine it embarrasses
my orange-crate bookshelves.
74
00:08:43,889 --> 00:08:48,167
I'm afraid to handle such soft vellum
and heavy cream-coloured pages.
75
00:08:48,969 --> 00:08:53,485
Being used to the dead-white paper
and cardboard covers of American books...
76
00:08:53,889 --> 00:08:56,722
...I never knew a book could be
such a joy to the touch.
77
00:09:01,449 --> 00:09:02,438
Brian?
78
00:09:07,009 --> 00:09:08,158
Brian!
79
00:09:08,769 --> 00:09:09,997
In here!
80
00:09:12,529 --> 00:09:16,283
Hi, Helene. I thought I'd find you in here.
81
00:09:17,809 --> 00:09:20,767
. Come on, we're going to be late.
. Won't be a minute.
82
00:09:21,809 --> 00:09:24,118
A Britisher whose girl lives upstairs...
83
00:09:24,209 --> 00:09:29,966
...translated the 1 pound 17 shillings
and sixpence for me...
84
00:09:30,329 --> 00:09:33,162
...and says I owe you $5.30 for the books.
85
00:09:33,449 --> 00:09:34,962
Are you sure that's right?
86
00:09:35,049 --> 00:09:36,562
Let me check.
87
00:09:38,489 --> 00:09:42,323
1 pound, 17, 6,
that's 37 and a half shillings, divided by...
88
00:09:43,609 --> 00:09:47,158
Yes, that's right. $5.30.
89
00:09:52,089 --> 00:09:54,728
I enclose a $5 bill and a single.
90
00:09:54,929 --> 00:09:58,080
Use the 70 cents toward the price
of the New Testaments...
91
00:09:58,369 --> 00:10:00,007
...both of which I want.
92
00:10:00,289 --> 00:10:04,043
Please translate prices hereafter.
I don't add too well in plain American.
93
00:10:04,129 --> 00:10:07,087
I haven't a prayer
of mastering bilingual arithmetic.
94
00:10:07,769 --> 00:10:10,044
Yours, Helene Hanff.
95
00:10:17,369 --> 00:10:20,327
I hope "madam" doesn't mean there
what it means here.
96
00:10:27,969 --> 00:10:28,958
Helene Hanff.
97
00:10:29,049 --> 00:10:31,085
She sent us $6.
98
00:10:32,489 --> 00:10:34,445
She's 70 cents over.
99
00:10:46,009 --> 00:10:49,160
Dear Miss Hanff: Your $6 arrived safely.
100
00:10:50,809 --> 00:10:55,883
We"d feel easier if you sent remittances
by postal money order in the future.
101
00:10:56,849 --> 00:11:01,127
This would be safer for you
than entrusting dollar bills to the mails.
102
00:11:05,409 --> 00:11:08,162
We're very happy
you liked the Stevenson so much.
103
00:11:08,449 --> 00:11:13,125
We have sent off the New Testaments
with an invoice listing the amount due...
104
00:11:13,209 --> 00:11:15,165
...in both pounds and dollars.
105
00:11:15,889 --> 00:11:18,164
We hope you will be pleased with them.
106
00:11:20,889 --> 00:11:27,886
What kind of a black,
Protestant Bible is this!
107
00:11:33,289 --> 00:11:36,565
Kindly inform the Church of England
they have loused up...
108
00:11:36,649 --> 00:11:39,083
...the most beautiful prose ever written.
109
00:11:39,209 --> 00:11:41,677
Who told them to tinker
with the Vulgate Latin?
110
00:11:42,049 --> 00:11:44,324
They'll burn for it, mark my words.
111
00:11:46,049 --> 00:11:48,005
It's nothing to me, l'm Jewish myself.
112
00:11:48,489 --> 00:11:51,401
But I have a Catholic and a Methodist
sister-in-law...
113
00:11:51,489 --> 00:11:55,607
...a whole raft of Presbyterian cousins
through my great-uncle Abraham...
114
00:11:55,769 --> 00:11:59,364
...who was converted, and an aunt
who's a Christian Science healer.
115
00:11:59,449 --> 00:12:04,159
I'd like to think none of them would
countenance this Anglican Latin Bible...
116
00:12:04,249 --> 00:12:06,001
...if they knew it existed.
117
00:12:06,169 --> 00:12:08,729
As it happens,
they don't know Latin existed.
118
00:12:16,089 --> 00:12:20,207
I enclose $4 to cover the $3.88 due you.
119
00:12:20,849 --> 00:12:23,488
Buy yourself a cup of coffee
with the 12 cents.
120
00:12:23,569 --> 00:12:26,527
There's no post office near,
and l'm not running all the way...
121
00:12:26,609 --> 00:12:29,999
...to Rockefeller Plaza to stand in line
for a $3.88 money order.
122
00:12:30,769 --> 00:12:35,160
If I wait until I get down there
for something else, I won't have the $3.88.
123
00:12:35,929 --> 00:12:41,003
I have implicit faith in the U.S. Airmail
and His Majesty's Postal Service.
124
00:12:42,849 --> 00:12:46,046
Have you got a copy of Landor's
lmaginary Conversations?
125
00:12:46,129 --> 00:12:47,721
I think there are several volumes.
126
00:12:47,809 --> 00:12:50,323
I want the one
with the Greek conversations.
127
00:12:50,929 --> 00:12:53,921
If it contains a dialogue
between Aesop and Rhodope...
128
00:12:54,049 --> 00:12:55,721
...that will be the volume I want.
129
00:12:56,009 --> 00:12:58,159
That, I think, is the one we've got.
130
00:12:59,529 --> 00:13:00,518
Cecily...
131
00:13:01,969 --> 00:13:04,039
...Landor, Imaginary Conversations.
132
00:13:04,129 --> 00:13:05,687
Dig it out, would you?
133
00:13:13,489 --> 00:13:16,481
Dear Miss Hanff: Your $4 arrived safely...
134
00:13:16,689 --> 00:13:19,681
...and we have credited the 12 cents
to your account.
135
00:13:21,409 --> 00:13:25,800
We have in stock Volume 2 of The Works
and Life of Walter Savage Landor...
136
00:13:26,449 --> 00:13:29,600
...which contains the Greek dialogues
you mentioned...
137
00:13:29,889 --> 00:13:31,959
...as well as the Roman dialogues.
138
00:13:32,809 --> 00:13:37,724
It is an old edition published in 1876,
not very handsome, but well-bound...
139
00:13:37,929 --> 00:13:39,601
...and a good, clean copy.
140
00:13:40,049 --> 00:13:43,200
We are sending it off to you today
with invoice enclosed.
141
00:13:44,889 --> 00:13:47,278
I'm sorry we made the mistake
with the Latin Bible.
142
00:13:47,369 --> 00:13:49,246
We"ll try to find a Vulgate for you.
143
00:13:49,329 --> 00:13:51,365
Not forgetting Leigh Hunt.
144
00:13:54,249 --> 00:13:57,002
Yours faithfully, FPD, for Marks & Co.
145
00:14:01,569 --> 00:14:02,638
Thank you.
146
00:14:25,009 --> 00:14:26,920
Very nice. Very tasty.
147
00:15:00,209 --> 00:15:01,198
Sir:
148
00:15:01,369 --> 00:15:03,439
It feels witless to keep writing
"Gentlemen"...
149
00:15:03,529 --> 00:15:07,204
...when the same solitary soul is obviously
taking care of everything for me.
150
00:15:07,849 --> 00:15:12,001
Savage Landor arrived and promptly
fell open to a Roman dialogue...
151
00:15:12,089 --> 00:15:14,922
...where two cities
had just been destroyed by war.
152
00:15:15,009 --> 00:15:18,206
Everyone was being crucified
and begging Roman soldiers...
153
00:15:18,289 --> 00:15:20,598
...to run them through and end the agony.
154
00:15:20,689 --> 00:15:24,921
It'll be a relief to turn to Aesop and
Rhodope where the only worry is a famine.
155
00:15:31,769 --> 00:15:35,762
I love used books that open to the page
a previous owner read oftenest.
156
00:15:36,169 --> 00:15:39,923
When Hazlitt came, he opened to
"I hate to read new books."
157
00:15:40,209 --> 00:15:44,282
And I hollered, "Comrade!"
To whoever owned it before me.
158
00:15:44,889 --> 00:15:48,006
I enclose $1, which Brian,
Kay's British boyfriend...
159
00:15:48,089 --> 00:15:50,398
...says will cover the 8 shillings I owe you.
160
00:15:50,489 --> 00:15:52,241
You forgot to translate it.
161
00:16:13,569 --> 00:16:14,638
Thank you.
162
00:16:17,529 --> 00:16:19,440
Only two per family, luv.
163
00:16:19,969 --> 00:16:21,402
Now then.
164
00:16:21,489 --> 00:16:26,404
Brian told me you are all rationed
to two ounces of meat per family a week...
165
00:16:26,489 --> 00:16:28,400
...and one egg per person per month!
166
00:16:28,489 --> 00:16:30,286
I am simply appalled.
167
00:16:30,809 --> 00:16:33,528
Somebody told Brian
about this firm in Denmark.
168
00:16:34,129 --> 00:16:36,245
They ship food packages to England.
169
00:16:36,809 --> 00:16:39,721
. I use them to send food to my mother.
. Show her the catalogue.
170
00:16:39,929 --> 00:16:42,363
They're very reliable. Cheap, too.
171
00:16:42,769 --> 00:16:44,760
Well, cheapish.
172
00:16:48,969 --> 00:16:50,527
My God!
173
00:16:51,129 --> 00:16:52,323
Look at this.
174
00:16:53,129 --> 00:16:58,840
They've got spiced lard, liver paste,
meatballs, chocolate shortcake...
175
00:16:58,929 --> 00:17:01,397
...margarine, eggs, cheese.
176
00:17:01,889 --> 00:17:03,242
They've got everything!
177
00:17:03,369 --> 00:17:06,281
Brian's mother couldn't believe her eyes.
178
00:17:06,609 --> 00:17:09,123
. What did you send her?
. Tin of ham, sausages.
179
00:17:09,209 --> 00:17:11,484
Tinned fruit, plums, raspberries.
180
00:17:11,809 --> 00:17:13,845
"Rahzberries." Don't you love that!
181
00:17:13,929 --> 00:17:15,965
A whole country says "rahzberries!"
182
00:17:16,049 --> 00:17:17,641
They sure do, ma'am!
183
00:17:17,729 --> 00:17:20,289
"Rahzberries, rahzberries!"
184
00:17:21,249 --> 00:17:23,479
This is terrific. Let's make a list.
185
00:17:25,609 --> 00:17:26,928
Where should we start?
186
00:17:27,009 --> 00:17:29,603
We must send a ham. It's Christmas.
187
00:17:30,089 --> 00:17:31,283
How about some soup?
188
00:17:31,369 --> 00:17:33,439
Mulligatawny soup. They'd like that.
189
00:17:33,529 --> 00:17:35,963
What else should we send? Vegetables?
190
00:17:37,249 --> 00:17:40,002
. What don't they have?
- Haricots verts.
191
00:17:40,249 --> 00:17:41,648
Haricots verts!
192
00:17:43,049 --> 00:17:46,678
There's two types of haricots verts:
There's "choicest" or there's "choice"!
193
00:17:48,049 --> 00:17:50,927
Bananas? Let's send a banana!
194
00:17:51,009 --> 00:17:54,604
I'm sending it care of you, FPD...
195
00:17:54,689 --> 00:17:56,122
...whoever you are.
196
00:17:56,329 --> 00:17:58,684
Noel. Helene Hanff.
197
00:17:59,089 --> 00:18:02,798
Pass me one of those cards
to hang over the mirror.
198
00:18:02,929 --> 00:18:04,999
The church or Father Christmas?
199
00:18:05,169 --> 00:18:07,683
. Which do you like?
. Father Christmas.
200
00:18:08,129 --> 00:18:10,404
. How are you getting along?
. All right.
201
00:18:12,689 --> 00:18:15,157
. What are you cooking?
. Mince pies.
202
00:18:16,849 --> 00:18:17,964
Good.
203
00:18:19,689 --> 00:18:21,600
How are you getting on?
204
00:18:24,889 --> 00:18:27,926
Sheila, pass me the holly.
Be careful. Don't prick yourself.
205
00:18:34,689 --> 00:18:37,840
Don't laugh. I'm bleeding.
What are you laughing at?
206
00:18:41,369 --> 00:18:43,087
FPD! Crisis!
207
00:18:44,929 --> 00:18:48,205
I sent that package off
with a six-pound ham in it!
208
00:18:48,449 --> 00:18:52,567
I figured you could slice it up
and everybody could take some home.
209
00:18:54,649 --> 00:18:56,560
I noticed on your last invoice, it says:
210
00:18:56,649 --> 00:18:59,163
"B. Marks. M. Cohen. Proprietors."
211
00:19:00,209 --> 00:19:03,440
Are they kosher?
I could rush a tongue over.
212
00:19:03,529 --> 00:19:05,087
Advise, please!
213
00:19:11,209 --> 00:19:12,324
Dear Miss Hanff:
214
00:19:12,409 --> 00:19:17,403
A note to let you know
that your gift parcel arrived safely today.
215
00:19:17,889 --> 00:19:21,245
Mr. Marks and Mr. Cohen insisted
that we divide it up among ourselves...
216
00:19:21,329 --> 00:19:23,240
...and not include the bosses.
217
00:19:25,729 --> 00:19:29,563
Everything in the parcel
was something we never see...
218
00:19:29,649 --> 00:19:31,879
...or can only get through the black market.
219
00:19:32,729 --> 00:19:37,439
It was generous of you to think of us
and we are extremely grateful.
220
00:19:37,729 --> 00:19:40,687
. How did she order it from Copenhagen?
. Heaven knows.
221
00:19:41,849 --> 00:19:43,726
Best wishes for 1950.
222
00:19:43,969 --> 00:19:47,086
Yours faithfully,
Frank Doel, for Marks & Co.
223
00:19:50,329 --> 00:19:51,921
. Can I help you?
. Yes, please.
224
00:19:52,009 --> 00:19:53,761
Do you have any colour prints?
225
00:19:53,849 --> 00:19:57,285
A man, I can't remember his name,
does pictures of people.
226
00:19:57,369 --> 00:20:02,079
They're composed of objects:
Fruit, flowers, cauliflowers, cabbages.
227
00:20:02,209 --> 00:20:04,803
The faces. 18th or 19th century.
228
00:20:04,889 --> 00:20:06,288
French, I think.
229
00:20:08,089 --> 00:20:10,523
Grotesque. Very highly coloured.
230
00:20:12,289 --> 00:20:14,519
. Sort of fruit and vegetables?
. Yes.
231
00:20:14,729 --> 00:20:17,766
. Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
. Yes! That's right.
232
00:20:17,889 --> 00:20:19,720
Do you have any of his work?
233
00:20:37,049 --> 00:20:39,199
Hello, Willie. How are you?
234
00:20:41,609 --> 00:20:42,439
Let's see.
235
00:20:42,529 --> 00:20:46,522
I want four slices of pepper salami,
four slices of Swiss cheese...
236
00:20:46,609 --> 00:20:48,088
...and a quarter pound of bacon.
237
00:20:48,169 --> 00:20:50,239
We're out of pepper salami.
238
00:20:50,489 --> 00:20:53,765
. Out of it?
. Nobody likes pepper salami.
239
00:20:54,809 --> 00:20:57,846
. I like it.
. I should buy it special for you?
240
00:21:00,449 --> 00:21:01,404
Why not?
241
00:21:03,089 --> 00:21:04,761
I'm your best customer.
242
00:21:07,049 --> 00:21:09,438
Okay, I'm not your best customer.
243
00:21:14,289 --> 00:21:16,245
Frank Doel...
244
00:21:16,929 --> 00:21:18,965
...what are you doing over there?
245
00:21:19,049 --> 00:21:22,644
You aren't doing anything,
you're just sitting around.
246
00:21:22,729 --> 00:21:24,367
Where is Leigh Hunt?
247
00:21:24,489 --> 00:21:26,161
Where is The Oxford Verse?
248
00:21:26,369 --> 00:21:30,282
Where is the Vulgate and dear goofy
John Henry Newman?
249
00:21:30,929 --> 00:21:35,878
I thought they'd be such uplifting reading
for Lent, and nothing do you send me!
250
00:21:39,809 --> 00:21:44,121
I sit here writing long margin notes
in library books that don't belong to me.
251
00:21:44,849 --> 00:21:48,319
Someday they"ll find out I did it
and take my library card away.
252
00:22:15,169 --> 00:22:18,286
I require a book of love poems,
with spring coming on.
253
00:22:19,169 --> 00:22:20,921
No Keats or Shelley.
254
00:22:21,329 --> 00:22:24,207
Send me poets who can make love
without slobbering.
255
00:22:25,289 --> 00:22:28,361
Wyatt or Jonson. Use your own judgment.
256
00:22:28,449 --> 00:22:31,202
A nice book small enough
to stick in my pocket...
257
00:22:31,449 --> 00:22:33,280
...and take to Central Park.
258
00:22:37,729 --> 00:22:40,118
Don't just sit there, go and find it!
259
00:22:40,289 --> 00:22:43,008
I swear I don't know
how that shop keeps going.
260
00:22:48,569 --> 00:22:50,799
. Beautiful set, is it not?
. Very nice.
261
00:22:52,249 --> 00:22:54,205
Have you got the D�rer catalogue?
262
00:22:56,249 --> 00:22:57,682
Yes.
263
00:23:02,249 --> 00:23:03,841
Dear Miss Hanff:
264
00:23:05,209 --> 00:23:07,803
Please don't let Frank know
I'm writing this.
265
00:23:09,009 --> 00:23:12,922
But each time I send you a bill,
l've been dying to slip in a note...
266
00:23:13,649 --> 00:23:16,083
...and he might not think it
quite proper of me.
267
00:23:17,449 --> 00:23:19,599
That sounds stuffy, and he's not.
268
00:23:19,929 --> 00:23:21,567
He's quite nice, really.
269
00:23:21,769 --> 00:23:23,487
Very nice, in fact.
270
00:23:23,889 --> 00:23:26,687
But he looks on you
as his private correspondent...
271
00:23:26,769 --> 00:23:29,408
...as all your letters and parcels
are addressed to him.
272
00:23:30,209 --> 00:23:32,769
But I thought l'd write to you on my own.
273
00:23:37,769 --> 00:23:41,603
"We all love your letters and try to imagine
what you must be like.
274
00:23:41,849 --> 00:23:46,798
"I've decided you're young
and very sophisticated and smart. Iooking."
275
00:23:49,529 --> 00:23:51,121
What's so funny?
276
00:23:52,849 --> 00:23:55,238
"Mr. Martin thinks
you must be studious. Iooking...
277
00:23:55,329 --> 00:23:57,638
"...in spite of
your wonderful sense of humour.
278
00:23:57,929 --> 00:24:00,682
."Why don't you send us a snapshot?"
. Why don't you?
279
00:24:02,009 --> 00:24:05,524
I'm finally a woman of mystery.
I'm going to keep it that way.
280
00:24:06,249 --> 00:24:09,207
."If you're curious about Frank..."
. Which you are.
281
00:24:09,929 --> 00:24:12,841
"He's in his late 30s, quite nice. Iooking.
282
00:24:14,129 --> 00:24:16,359
"Married to a sweet Irish girl.
283
00:24:16,689 --> 00:24:19,840
"I believe she's his second wife."
284
00:24:21,129 --> 00:24:25,008
. Ready for Act 2, Miss Bellamy.
. Thank you, Elliot.
285
00:24:30,929 --> 00:24:33,284
I'll call you, take care.
286
00:24:35,689 --> 00:24:38,157
Everyone was so grateful for the parcel.
287
00:24:38,609 --> 00:24:43,524
My little ones, girl, 5 and boy, 4,
were in heaven.
288
00:24:44,169 --> 00:24:47,684
With the raisins and egg
I was able to make them a cake.
289
00:24:50,249 --> 00:24:52,319
I do hope you don"t mind my writing.
290
00:24:52,689 --> 00:24:54,725
Please don't mention it to Frank.
291
00:24:57,849 --> 00:24:58,838
Cecily?
292
00:25:00,129 --> 00:25:02,359
. Are you busy?
. No.
293
00:25:02,449 --> 00:25:04,679
. We must do some letters.
. Yes, coming.
294
00:25:09,969 --> 00:25:12,642
With best wishes, Cecily Farr.
295
00:25:16,969 --> 00:25:20,518
Dear Cecily: And a very bad cess
to old Mr. Martin.
296
00:25:21,089 --> 00:25:23,922
I'm so unstudious,
I never even went to college.
297
00:25:24,409 --> 00:25:27,048
I just have a peculiar taste in books.
298
00:25:28,209 --> 00:25:31,281
And l'm about as smart-looking
as a Broadway panhandler.
299
00:25:31,729 --> 00:25:34,402
I live in moth-eaten sweaters
and wool slacks.
300
00:25:34,649 --> 00:25:36,924
They don't give us heat in the daytime.
301
00:25:37,089 --> 00:25:39,000
It's a five-story brownstone...
302
00:25:39,089 --> 00:25:42,286
...the other tenants go to work at 9 a.m.
And aren't home until 6.
303
00:25:42,369 --> 00:25:46,601
Why should the landlord heat the building
for one script reader, writer...
304
00:25:46,689 --> 00:25:48,281
...working at home?
305
00:25:48,889 --> 00:25:52,006
I'm Ed. This is Ginny.
306
00:25:53,049 --> 00:25:54,368
. Helene.
. Hi.
307
00:25:54,929 --> 00:25:56,681
Okay, Helene, lead the way.
308
00:25:59,809 --> 00:26:03,404
. Do you live around here?
. No, we're looking.
309
00:26:03,489 --> 00:26:05,002
We're getting married soon.
310
00:26:05,089 --> 00:26:06,920
How nice!
311
00:26:07,049 --> 00:26:10,121
What kind of place are you looking for?
Something fancy?
312
00:26:10,289 --> 00:26:13,201
. I wouldn't say fancy.
. Two or three bedrooms.
313
00:26:13,289 --> 00:26:14,927
Big enough for a family.
314
00:26:15,169 --> 00:26:17,125
Something overlooking the park.
315
00:26:17,729 --> 00:26:19,128
That would be nice.
316
00:26:19,209 --> 00:26:21,040
How many rooms have you got?
317
00:26:21,489 --> 00:26:24,561
Well, I have a workroom, a sitting room...
318
00:26:24,649 --> 00:26:28,927
...a bedroom, a dining room and a kitchen.
319
00:26:29,049 --> 00:26:30,277
And here it is.
320
00:26:33,009 --> 00:26:34,408
Kettle's on.
321
00:26:48,049 --> 00:26:50,404
Poor Frank, I give him such a hard time.
322
00:26:50,769 --> 00:26:52,521
I'm always bawling him out.
323
00:26:52,609 --> 00:26:55,362
I'm only teasing,
but I know he'll take me seriously.
324
00:26:55,809 --> 00:26:58,607
I keep trying to puncture
that proper British reserve.
325
00:26:59,129 --> 00:27:01,040
If he gets ulcers, I did it.
326
00:27:11,289 --> 00:27:13,041
How's the tea coming along?
327
00:27:13,369 --> 00:27:14,882
It's almost ready.
328
00:27:18,009 --> 00:27:20,364
What would we do
without our cups of tea?
329
00:27:21,649 --> 00:27:24,641
Life would be insupportable,
how would it not?
330
00:27:31,049 --> 00:27:33,563
The train from Ketchworth
is now arriving at Platform 3.
331
00:27:41,049 --> 00:27:42,164
Forgive me.
332
00:27:43,129 --> 00:27:44,403
For what?
333
00:27:44,769 --> 00:27:46,043
For everything.
334
00:27:46,529 --> 00:27:50,841
For meeting you in the first place,
and taking the grit out of your eye.
335
00:27:51,609 --> 00:27:52,837
For loving you.
336
00:27:53,169 --> 00:27:55,160
For bringing you so much misery.
337
00:27:57,329 --> 00:27:59,445
I'll forgive you if you'll forgive me.
338
00:28:07,769 --> 00:28:09,122
Thursday.
339
00:28:09,609 --> 00:28:11,884
Write and tell me about London.
340
00:28:12,049 --> 00:28:14,404
I live for the day
when I step off the boat train...
341
00:28:14,489 --> 00:28:16,923
...and feel its dirty sidewalks
under my feet.
342
00:28:18,129 --> 00:28:21,804
I want to walk up Berkeley Square
and down Wimpole Street...
343
00:28:22,529 --> 00:28:25,327
...and stand in St. Paul's
where John Donne preached.
344
00:28:25,409 --> 00:28:28,685
And sit where Elizabeth sat,
refusing to enter the Tower...
345
00:28:28,769 --> 00:28:30,566
...and places like that.
346
00:28:31,889 --> 00:28:36,246
A newspaper man I know,
who was in London during the war says...
347
00:28:36,329 --> 00:28:39,401
...tourists go to England
with preconceived notions...
348
00:28:39,489 --> 00:28:42,242
...so they find exactly
what they go looking for.
349
00:28:43,649 --> 00:28:47,278
I told him l'd go looking for the England
of English literature.
350
00:28:47,849 --> 00:28:50,158
And he said, "Then, it's there."
351
00:28:54,769 --> 00:28:56,361
Dear Miss Hanff:
352
00:28:56,569 --> 00:28:59,959
This is to tell you we have in stock
The Oxford Book of English Verse.
353
00:29:00,489 --> 00:29:01,922
Quite a nice Jonson.
354
00:29:02,009 --> 00:29:05,206
Printed on India paper,
original blue cloth binding...
355
00:29:05,689 --> 00:29:06,678
...1905.
356
00:29:07,889 --> 00:29:11,086
Inscription in ink on the flyleaf,
but a good second-hand copy.
357
00:29:11,969 --> 00:29:13,687
Price: $2.
358
00:29:14,169 --> 00:29:15,238
Swinburne.
359
00:29:15,409 --> 00:29:19,402
We quote before sending,
in case you've already purchased a copy.
360
00:29:20,009 --> 00:29:21,761
Hardy, limited edition.
361
00:29:22,249 --> 00:29:23,318
Very nice.
362
00:29:29,049 --> 00:29:32,280
Some time ago you asked us
for Newman's Idea of a University.
363
00:29:32,369 --> 00:29:33,722
Very nice indeed.
364
00:29:34,169 --> 00:29:36,444
Are you interested in a first edition?
365
00:29:36,809 --> 00:29:38,959
We'll put that aside for Miss Hanff.
366
00:29:40,649 --> 00:29:44,403
He has a first edition
of Newman's University for $6!
367
00:29:45,129 --> 00:29:47,518
"Do I want it?" He asks innocently.
368
00:29:52,369 --> 00:29:56,157
Dear Frank: Yes, I want it!
369
00:29:57,169 --> 00:29:59,285
I won't be fit to live with myself.
370
00:30:00,489 --> 00:30:05,358
I don't care about first editions per se,
but a first edition of that book!
371
00:30:14,409 --> 00:30:15,524
Well!
372
00:30:16,089 --> 00:30:18,523
All I have to say to you, Frank Doel...
373
00:30:19,289 --> 00:30:22,884
...is we live in depraved
and degenerate times...
374
00:30:22,969 --> 00:30:26,518
...when a bookshop tears up
beautiful old books...
375
00:30:26,609 --> 00:30:28,440
...to use as wrapping paper.
376
00:30:29,729 --> 00:30:33,085
Worse, you tore the book up
in the middle of a battle...
377
00:30:33,169 --> 00:30:35,637
...and I don"t even know which war it was!
378
00:30:35,769 --> 00:30:37,088
Thank you.
379
00:30:37,609 --> 00:30:40,567
Take a look at this. Isn't that beautiful?
380
00:30:41,609 --> 00:30:42,837
It's beautiful.
381
00:30:43,329 --> 00:30:46,639
It's a first edition, my dear.
One hundred years old.
382
00:30:47,129 --> 00:30:48,357
It's beautiful.
383
00:30:49,129 --> 00:30:52,599
I feel guilty owning it.
All that leather and gold stamping.
384
00:30:53,889 --> 00:30:57,518
It belongs in a library
in some English country home.
385
00:31:00,249 --> 00:31:03,605
It should be read by a fire,
in a leather easy chair...
386
00:31:04,249 --> 00:31:06,365
...not on some second. Hand,
overstuffed seat...
387
00:31:06,449 --> 00:31:08,679
...in a broken. Down brownstone front.
388
00:31:09,369 --> 00:31:12,759
If I was this book,
I'd want to live right here.
389
00:31:18,769 --> 00:31:19,963
You're right.
390
00:31:23,129 --> 00:31:24,528
Dear Miss Hanff:
391
00:31:24,969 --> 00:31:29,247
Sorry for the delay in answering,
but l"ve been out of town for a week.
392
00:31:29,649 --> 00:31:32,163
I'm now trying to catch up
on my correspondence.
393
00:31:32,449 --> 00:31:33,518
Let's see.
394
00:31:34,929 --> 00:31:36,282
You look lovely.
395
00:31:37,249 --> 00:31:38,364
First of all...
396
00:31:38,449 --> 00:31:42,727
...please don't worry about us
using old books for wrapping.
397
00:31:42,809 --> 00:31:44,481
Mary, you can wear it tomorrow.
398
00:31:44,569 --> 00:31:48,767
In this case, they were two odd volumes
with the covers detached.
399
00:31:48,889 --> 00:31:50,163
They're so good.
400
00:31:50,249 --> 00:31:53,286
Nobody would have given us
a shilling for them.
401
00:31:54,329 --> 00:31:55,444
Come along.
402
00:31:56,929 --> 00:31:57,725
Jump in.
403
00:31:57,809 --> 00:32:00,528
. I'll see to that.
. Thanks.
404
00:32:00,889 --> 00:32:03,198
We're glad you liked the Q anthology.
405
00:32:03,929 --> 00:32:07,842
We have no copy of The Oxford Book
of English Prose in stock...
406
00:32:08,009 --> 00:32:10,204
...but will try to find one for you.
407
00:32:10,609 --> 00:32:15,000
There are five of us in the shop,
not including Mr. Marks and Mr. Cohen.
408
00:32:15,769 --> 00:32:17,680
.'Bye.
. See you later.
409
00:32:18,489 --> 00:32:19,808
Have a nice time.
410
00:32:52,569 --> 00:32:55,163
. Are you enjoying yourself?
. Yes. When did we last...
411
00:32:55,249 --> 00:32:56,602
I don't remember.
412
00:33:06,049 --> 00:33:07,482
Let's have a drink.
413
00:33:15,089 --> 00:33:16,044
Lovely.
414
00:33:16,849 --> 00:33:20,046
. Look at the lights.
. We should dance more often.
415
00:33:20,929 --> 00:33:22,157
I can't.
416
00:33:22,769 --> 00:33:24,521
. I can't.
. That's nonsense.
417
00:33:24,609 --> 00:33:28,397
. Isn't that the Savoy?
. No, it's the Shell building.
418
00:33:32,849 --> 00:33:35,568
It's a long time since we've done that.
419
00:33:35,969 --> 00:33:38,403
I can't dance. All right, once more.
420
00:34:21,329 --> 00:34:23,126
. You look so beautiful!
. Thank you!
421
00:34:23,209 --> 00:34:25,359
Have lots of babies! I'll baby. Sit!
422
00:34:25,569 --> 00:34:26,968
Have a dog, too!
423
00:34:28,409 --> 00:34:29,603
'Bye!
424
00:34:40,969 --> 00:34:42,960
Helene, you are amazing!
425
00:34:44,009 --> 00:34:45,237
Yes, I am.
426
00:34:47,249 --> 00:34:51,162
I drink to you and the best. Iooking
Yorkshire pudding this side of the Atlantic.
427
00:34:51,249 --> 00:34:54,127
To Helene and the Yorkshire pudding.
428
00:34:55,529 --> 00:34:56,962
. Here, here.
. Cheers.
429
00:34:59,529 --> 00:35:01,087
Happy birthday, Brian.
430
00:35:01,249 --> 00:35:02,602
Bon voyage, Maxine.
431
00:35:02,689 --> 00:35:06,364
Why you're going to England and I'm not,
God only knows!
432
00:35:10,089 --> 00:35:14,128
Dear Cecily:
Yorkshire pudding out of this world.
433
00:35:14,289 --> 00:35:15,517
We have nothing like it.
434
00:35:15,609 --> 00:35:20,364
I described it to someone as a high,
curved, smooth, empty waffle.
435
00:35:20,609 --> 00:35:22,008
Helene Hanff.
436
00:35:25,089 --> 00:35:25,919
What?
437
00:35:27,489 --> 00:35:28,638
Who is this?
438
00:35:29,529 --> 00:35:33,602
A producer who likes my plays,
but not enough to produce them, phoned.
439
00:35:34,289 --> 00:35:37,645
He's producing a TVseries.
Do I want to write for television?
440
00:35:38,689 --> 00:35:40,805
"Two bills," he said carelessly.
441
00:35:41,289 --> 00:35:43,200
What do you mean, "two bills"?
442
00:35:44,049 --> 00:35:47,928
It turns out he meant $200 a script!
443
00:35:48,449 --> 00:35:51,122
And me, a $40-a-week script reader!
444
00:35:51,929 --> 00:35:53,567
I go to see him tomorrow.
445
00:35:53,769 --> 00:35:56,363
10:30? Sure, yes, I'll be there.
446
00:35:56,769 --> 00:35:58,202
See you then.
447
00:35:59,089 --> 00:36:00,044
Thanks.
448
00:36:06,369 --> 00:36:08,166
Keep your fingers crossed.
449
00:36:09,049 --> 00:36:11,119
Best, Helene.
450
00:36:13,249 --> 00:36:14,238
Boy!
451
00:36:29,649 --> 00:36:31,480
Here we are. Pork sausages.
452
00:36:32,489 --> 00:36:34,480
And raisins.
453
00:36:38,649 --> 00:36:39,798
And peaches.
454
00:36:40,169 --> 00:36:42,729
And some ham.
455
00:36:45,449 --> 00:36:46,848
Dear Miss Hanff:
456
00:36:46,929 --> 00:36:51,480
Your Easter parcels to Marks & Co.
Arrived safely a few days ago.
457
00:36:52,249 --> 00:36:55,321
We were all quite dazzled to see the meat.
458
00:36:55,689 --> 00:36:58,123
And the eggs and tins
were so very welcome.
459
00:36:59,569 --> 00:37:02,800
I felt I must write
and say how very grateful...
460
00:37:02,889 --> 00:37:05,528
...we all are for your kindness
and generosity.
461
00:37:12,169 --> 00:37:13,807
My word, this looks good.
462
00:37:15,129 --> 00:37:16,926
Michael! Anne!
463
00:37:17,169 --> 00:37:19,160
My dear, the meat!
464
00:37:19,569 --> 00:37:24,085
You shouldn't spend your money so.
It must have cost a packet!
465
00:37:24,409 --> 00:37:25,808
It's sausages!
466
00:37:25,889 --> 00:37:27,720
Bless you for your kind heart.
467
00:37:27,809 --> 00:37:29,845
You know who sent them?
Remember the lady?
468
00:37:34,249 --> 00:37:35,841
Dear Miss Hanff:
469
00:37:36,369 --> 00:37:40,806
For nearly two years I have worked
as a cataloguer at Marks & Co...
470
00:37:41,129 --> 00:37:45,645
...and want to thank you for my share-out
in the parcels you've been sending.
471
00:37:47,929 --> 00:37:49,760
I live with my great-aunt...
472
00:37:50,409 --> 00:37:51,842
...who is 75.
473
00:37:52,449 --> 00:37:54,405
Do please look, Auntie.
474
00:37:54,849 --> 00:37:56,441
I think that...
475
00:37:56,569 --> 00:38:00,244
...if you had seen her delight
when I brought home the meat...
476
00:38:00,449 --> 00:38:04,522
...and the tin of tongue,
you would know how grateful we are.
477
00:38:05,369 --> 00:38:08,839
I don't like that it came
all the way from America.
478
00:38:09,089 --> 00:38:11,159
It only came from Denmark, Auntie.
479
00:38:13,729 --> 00:38:17,927
It's good to know that someone
so many miles away...
480
00:38:18,009 --> 00:38:21,922
...can be so kind and generous
to people they haven"t even seen.
481
00:38:23,049 --> 00:38:25,609
I think everyone in the firm feels the same.
482
00:38:26,329 --> 00:38:30,322
If you know of anything that
you would like sent over from London...
483
00:38:31,049 --> 00:38:33,643
...I will be most happy to see to it for you.
484
00:38:34,209 --> 00:38:36,564
Sincerely, Bill Humphries.
485
00:38:48,289 --> 00:38:51,326
What a treat! What a treat!
486
00:39:11,329 --> 00:39:12,921
Dear Miss Hanff:
487
00:39:13,169 --> 00:39:17,003
I expect you are worried that
we have not thanked you for your parcels...
488
00:39:17,169 --> 00:39:19,922
...and are probably thinking
that we are an ungrateful lot.
489
00:39:21,409 --> 00:39:24,162
The truth is,
I have been chasing around the country...
490
00:39:24,249 --> 00:39:27,207
...in and out of various stately homes
of England...
491
00:39:27,409 --> 00:39:30,879
...trying to buy a few books
to fill up our sadly depleted stock.
492
00:39:34,929 --> 00:39:37,443
My wife was starting
to call me "The Lodger..."
493
00:39:37,529 --> 00:39:39,679
...just went home for bed and breakfast.
494
00:39:39,769 --> 00:39:42,522
But when I arrived home
with a nice piece of meat...
495
00:39:42,769 --> 00:39:44,805
...to say nothing of dried eggs and ham...
496
00:39:44,889 --> 00:39:48,279
...then she thought I was a fine fellow,
and all was forgiven.
497
00:39:48,729 --> 00:39:52,085
It is a long time since we saw
so much meat all in one piece.
498
00:39:57,329 --> 00:39:59,638
Lots 40 through 49 are on the next landing.
499
00:39:59,729 --> 00:40:02,084
. Good morning, John.
. Good morning.
500
00:40:14,049 --> 00:40:17,200
We should like to express our appreciation
in some way...
501
00:40:17,649 --> 00:40:20,641
...so we are sending by book post today...
502
00:40:20,849 --> 00:40:23,124
...a little book which I hope you will like.
503
00:40:24,849 --> 00:40:28,637
I remember you asked me for a volume
of Elizabethan love poems.
504
00:40:29,769 --> 00:40:32,567
This is the nearest I can get to it.
505
00:40:52,209 --> 00:40:57,124
To Helene Hanff with best wishes
and thanks for many kindnesses...
506
00:40:57,409 --> 00:41:02,403
...from all at 84 Charing Cross Road.
London, April, 1951.
507
00:41:13,129 --> 00:41:16,166
To all at 84 Charing Cross Road:
508
00:41:17,289 --> 00:41:19,359
Thank you for this beautiful book.
509
00:41:19,649 --> 00:41:22,800
L"ve never owned a book with pages
edged in gold.
510
00:41:23,769 --> 00:41:26,283
Would you believe it arrived
on my birthday?
511
00:41:28,409 --> 00:41:32,197
Too bad you were so over-courteous
and put the inscription on a card...
512
00:41:32,329 --> 00:41:34,206
...instead of on the flyleaf.
513
00:41:34,649 --> 00:41:39,404
It's the bookseller in you all.
You were afraid you'd decrease its value.
514
00:41:39,649 --> 00:41:41,958
You'd have increased it for this owner...
515
00:41:42,729 --> 00:41:44,685
...and possibly for future owners.
516
00:41:45,849 --> 00:41:48,807
I love inscriptions on flyleaves
and notes in margins.
517
00:41:50,089 --> 00:41:53,445
I like the comradely sense
of turning pages someone else turned...
518
00:41:53,689 --> 00:41:57,443
...and reading passages someone long gone
has called my attention to.
519
00:41:58,609 --> 00:42:00,565
Why didn't you sign your names?
520
00:42:00,809 --> 00:42:02,401
I expect Frank wouldn't let you.
521
00:42:02,489 --> 00:42:05,925
He probably doesn't want me
writing love letters to anyone but him.
522
00:42:12,969 --> 00:42:16,848
Dear Heart:
It's a lovely shop, straight out of Dickens.
523
00:42:16,929 --> 00:42:19,807
You would go absolutely
out of your mind over it.
524
00:42:19,889 --> 00:42:21,561
There are stalls outside...
525
00:42:21,649 --> 00:42:26,404
...and I stopped to establish myself
as a browser before wandering in.
526
00:42:42,729 --> 00:42:44,082
It's dim inside.
527
00:42:44,449 --> 00:42:47,759
You can smell the shop before you see it.
It's a lovely smell.
528
00:42:47,849 --> 00:42:52,161
It's hard to describe,
but it combines must and dust and age...
529
00:42:52,249 --> 00:42:54,763
...and walls and floors of wood.
530
00:42:55,609 --> 00:42:59,363
At the back of the shop there's a desk.
531
00:42:59,449 --> 00:43:02,043
A man was sitting there
with a Hogarth nose.
532
00:43:02,129 --> 00:43:03,881
He looked up and said:
533
00:43:03,969 --> 00:43:07,245
"So sorry. Good afternoon."
534
00:43:08,169 --> 00:43:11,241
. Would you like some help?
. May I look around?
535
00:43:11,449 --> 00:43:13,565
Oh, yes. Of course. Please do.
536
00:43:21,129 --> 00:43:23,165
The shelves go on forever.
537
00:43:23,289 --> 00:43:28,204
They go up to the ceiling
and they're very old and grey...
538
00:43:28,289 --> 00:43:31,804
...like old oak that absorbed so much dust
over the years...
539
00:43:31,889 --> 00:43:33,959
...they no longer are their true colour.
540
00:43:34,049 --> 00:43:35,528
There's a print selection...
541
00:43:35,609 --> 00:43:40,125
...or rather a long print table
with Cruikshank, Rackham...
542
00:43:40,209 --> 00:43:44,919
...and Spy and all those
old English caricaturists and illustrators...
543
00:43:45,009 --> 00:43:47,204
...that l"m not smart enough
to know a lot about.
544
00:43:47,609 --> 00:43:52,239
There are some lovely old
illustrated magazines.
545
00:43:54,289 --> 00:43:57,201
I stayed about half an hour
hoping your Frank...
546
00:43:57,289 --> 00:43:58,927
...or one of the girls would turn up.
547
00:43:59,009 --> 00:44:02,843
They must have been all out to lunch,
and I couldn't stay any longer.
548
00:44:12,689 --> 00:44:16,921
What kind of a Pepys" Diary...
549
00:44:17,009 --> 00:44:19,762
...do you call this?
550
00:44:20,889 --> 00:44:22,959
This is not...
551
00:44:23,049 --> 00:44:27,122
...Pepys" Diary.
552
00:44:27,209 --> 00:44:31,248
This is some busybody...
553
00:44:31,369 --> 00:44:34,645
...editor's collection...
554
00:44:34,729 --> 00:44:37,004
...of excerpts...
555
00:44:37,449 --> 00:44:41,920
...from Pepys" Diary.
556
00:44:42,609 --> 00:44:43,962
May he rot.
557
00:44:44,889 --> 00:44:48,006
I could just spit.
558
00:45:12,489 --> 00:45:15,640
I enclose...
559
00:45:17,369 --> 00:45:21,362
...two limp singles.
560
00:45:23,249 --> 00:45:26,446
I will make do...
561
00:45:26,529 --> 00:45:30,488
...with this until you get me...
562
00:45:31,529 --> 00:45:35,124
...a real Pepys.
563
00:45:36,889 --> 00:45:38,117
Then...
564
00:45:40,049 --> 00:45:44,645
...I will rip up...
565
00:45:45,089 --> 00:45:48,399
...this ersatz book...
566
00:45:49,209 --> 00:45:52,963
...page by page...
567
00:45:54,329 --> 00:45:58,038
...and wrap things in it!
568
00:46:15,609 --> 00:46:18,203
Fresh eggs or powdered for Christmas?
569
00:46:19,209 --> 00:46:21,120
The powdered lasts longer...
570
00:46:21,649 --> 00:46:24,880
...but fresh farm eggs from Denmark
have got to taste better.
571
00:46:26,209 --> 00:46:27,927
Want to take a vote on it?
572
00:46:29,329 --> 00:46:32,287
Vote Pestell and keep the Tories out.
573
00:46:33,209 --> 00:46:36,326
Vote Reg Pestell,
your Labour Party candidate.
574
00:46:37,849 --> 00:46:41,000
Vote Pestell and keep the Tories out.
575
00:46:53,769 --> 00:46:55,361
Dear Miss Hanff:
576
00:46:55,809 --> 00:46:58,846
First of all,
let me apologize for the Pepys'.
577
00:46:59,449 --> 00:47:03,078
I honestly thought it was
the complete Braybrooke edition.
578
00:47:03,529 --> 00:47:07,841
I can understand how you felt when
your favourite passages were missing.
579
00:47:09,169 --> 00:47:12,320
I promise to look at the next
reasonably priced copy that I get...
580
00:47:12,409 --> 00:47:17,005
...and if it contains the passage you want,
I will send it along.
581
00:47:17,249 --> 00:47:18,807
Thank you.
582
00:47:22,209 --> 00:47:26,760
About the eggs.
I've talked to the rest of the inmates...
583
00:47:26,849 --> 00:47:30,558
...and we all seem to think that
the fresh ones would be nicer.
584
00:47:35,449 --> 00:47:36,928
There we are.
585
00:47:53,729 --> 00:47:54,559
Hi.
586
00:47:54,649 --> 00:47:57,686
New York during rush hour.
Ginny, I'm so sorry.
587
00:47:58,329 --> 00:48:01,366
Don't worry.
Would you like something to drink?
588
00:48:01,449 --> 00:48:05,044
She can help herself.
She knows where everything is.
589
00:48:05,929 --> 00:48:10,719
If you get hungry, there's cold chicken,
salad in the icebox, and chocolate cake.
590
00:48:10,809 --> 00:48:15,246
. You want to miss the whole of Act 1?
. We'll be home after 11:00.
591
00:48:15,329 --> 00:48:16,682
All right. See you then.
592
00:48:17,329 --> 00:48:19,524
Don't worry. I'll take care of everything.
593
00:48:20,009 --> 00:48:22,842
.'Bye.
. Baby, dog, everything.
594
00:48:26,849 --> 00:48:30,364
Well, Boontash!
Let's have a drink, shall we?
595
00:48:30,489 --> 00:48:31,888
Yes. Look!
596
00:48:58,089 --> 00:48:59,886
Dear Speed:
597
00:49:00,009 --> 00:49:04,446
You dizzy me, rushing Leigh Hunt
and the Vulgate over here whiz bang.
598
00:49:05,329 --> 00:49:09,686
You probably don"t realise it, but it"s hardly
more than two years since I ordered them.
599
00:49:09,769 --> 00:49:13,079
You keep going at this rate,
you"ll give yourself a heart attack.
600
00:49:16,049 --> 00:49:17,448
That's mean.
601
00:49:17,569 --> 00:49:20,641
You go to so much trouble for me
and I never even thank you.
602
00:49:20,729 --> 00:49:23,527
I just needle you. It's mean.
603
00:49:23,889 --> 00:49:26,767
I really am grateful for all the pains
you take for me.
604
00:49:52,129 --> 00:49:53,482
I'm coming.
605
00:49:56,129 --> 00:49:58,359
You're wide awake, aren't you?
606
00:49:58,729 --> 00:50:01,118
You're supposed to be asleep,
you know that?
607
00:50:01,209 --> 00:50:03,165
Yes, you're supposed to be asleep.
608
00:50:03,249 --> 00:50:06,082
Do you carry hardcover vocal scores
by chance?
609
00:50:06,169 --> 00:50:09,684
Like Bach's Saint Matthew Passion
or Handel's Messiah?
610
00:50:10,489 --> 00:50:13,959
I could get them at Schirmer's
but they're 50 blocks from me...
611
00:50:14,049 --> 00:50:15,960
...so I thought l'd ask you first.
612
00:50:16,049 --> 00:50:17,960
How's that?
613
00:50:18,049 --> 00:50:20,643
Congratulations on Churchill & Co!
614
00:50:20,769 --> 00:50:23,408
Hope he loosens up your rations a little.
615
00:50:23,849 --> 00:50:25,885
By the way, is your name Welsh?
616
00:50:25,969 --> 00:50:28,039
I'm going to read to you.
617
00:50:29,249 --> 00:50:33,606
You'll love this.
This is by John Henry Newman.
618
00:50:34,009 --> 00:50:35,522
You'll love it.
619
00:50:36,529 --> 00:50:40,681
"It is a prevalent notion just now
that religious opinion does not enter...
620
00:50:40,769 --> 00:50:43,522
"...as a matter of necessity
in any considerable measure...
621
00:50:43,609 --> 00:50:47,238
"...into the treatment
of scientific or literary subjects."
622
00:50:51,289 --> 00:50:53,359
Helene, we're back!
623
00:50:59,449 --> 00:51:00,438
Helene!
624
00:52:05,489 --> 00:52:08,526
We are sending you
a little gift for Christmas.
625
00:52:09,129 --> 00:52:10,528
It is linen.
626
00:52:12,929 --> 00:52:15,921
We hope you do not have to pay
any duty on it.
627
00:52:16,289 --> 00:52:19,645
We'll mark it "Christmas gift"
and keep our fingers crossed.
628
00:52:21,889 --> 00:52:26,007
We hope you will like it and accept it
with our best wishes for Christmas...
629
00:52:26,129 --> 00:52:27,767
...and the coming year.
630
00:52:36,169 --> 00:52:39,525
Since my name is pronounced
to rhyme with the French word "Noel"...
631
00:52:39,729 --> 00:52:43,358
...I think there may be a possibility
it originated in France.
632
00:52:50,529 --> 00:52:54,363
. Isn't it wonderful?
. This is beautiful!
633
00:52:56,409 --> 00:52:59,526
Christmas greetings and all good wishes
for the New Year from:
634
00:52:59,609 --> 00:53:01,088
George Martin.
635
00:53:01,489 --> 00:53:04,287
. Cecily Farr.
. Bill Humphries.
636
00:53:04,369 --> 00:53:05,768
Megan Wells.
637
00:53:06,009 --> 00:53:06,964
Frank Doel.
638
00:53:07,409 --> 00:53:08,808
Really beautiful.
639
00:53:19,809 --> 00:53:21,367
Let me help you with that.
640
00:53:21,729 --> 00:53:24,846
It's much too heavy. Give it to me.
641
00:53:28,369 --> 00:53:29,848
Dear Miss Hanff:
642
00:53:29,929 --> 00:53:34,798
I've wanted to write to thank you
for my family's share in the wonderful...
643
00:53:34,889 --> 00:53:37,528
...food parcels you've been sending
to Marks & Co.
644
00:53:39,689 --> 00:53:41,839
Five minutes later we'd have been soaked.
645
00:53:42,689 --> 00:53:45,123
Now I have an excuse. As Frank tells me...
646
00:53:45,609 --> 00:53:48,169
...you want the name and address
of the old lady...
647
00:53:48,249 --> 00:53:50,001
...who embroidered your cloth.
648
00:53:52,089 --> 00:53:57,083
Her name is Mrs. Boulton and she lives
upstairs at No. 24 Oakfield Court.
649
00:53:58,089 --> 00:54:01,479
She was thrilled to know her cloth
crossed the Atlantic.
650
00:54:01,569 --> 00:54:04,367
She'd be delighted to hear
how much you admired it.
651
00:54:07,209 --> 00:54:10,679
I thought you'd like to see these snaps
of my happy family.
652
00:54:11,289 --> 00:54:14,247
Our eldest girl, Sheila, was 12 last August.
653
00:54:14,809 --> 00:54:19,325
She is my ready-made daughter,
as Frank lost his first wife during the war.
654
00:54:20,129 --> 00:54:22,802
Our youngest, Mary, was 4 last week.
655
00:54:23,929 --> 00:54:27,717
Last May, Sheila announced at school
she was sending Mummy and Daddy...
656
00:54:27,809 --> 00:54:29,322
...an anniversary card...
657
00:54:29,569 --> 00:54:33,801
...and told the nuns at the convent
that we had been married four years!
658
00:54:34,529 --> 00:54:36,804
It took a bit of explaining,
as you can imagine.
659
00:54:38,089 --> 00:54:41,047
I will close this with all good wishes
for the new year...
660
00:54:41,129 --> 00:54:44,087
...and a wish that we may see you
in England one of these days.
661
00:54:44,929 --> 00:54:46,999
Sincerely, Nora Doel.
662
00:55:13,329 --> 00:55:17,368
So, how are you feeling?
663
00:55:20,249 --> 00:55:21,648
Not too bad.
664
00:55:21,969 --> 00:55:23,561
Comfortable?
665
00:55:32,849 --> 00:55:34,123
How's the food?
666
00:55:35,689 --> 00:55:37,168
Not too bad.
667
00:55:42,529 --> 00:55:45,248
We had another letter from Miss Hanff.
668
00:55:46,409 --> 00:55:49,082
. Would you like to hear it?
. Yes, please.
669
00:55:58,809 --> 00:55:59,798
"Sloth.
670
00:56:00,889 --> 00:56:03,961
"I could rot over here
before you'd send me anything to read.
671
00:56:04,129 --> 00:56:08,725
"I should run to Brentano's, which I would,
if anything I wanted was in print.
672
00:56:09,249 --> 00:56:13,527
"You may add Walton's Lives
to the list of books you aren't sending me.
673
00:56:14,209 --> 00:56:17,167
"It's against my principles
to buy a book I haven't read.
674
00:56:17,489 --> 00:56:20,208
"It's like buying a dress
you haven't tried on.
675
00:56:20,729 --> 00:56:23,641
"You can't even get Walton's Lives
in a library over here.
676
00:56:24,849 --> 00:56:28,683
"You can look at it.
They have it at the 42nd Street branch...
677
00:56:29,209 --> 00:56:31,006
"...but not to take home.
678
00:56:31,689 --> 00:56:34,999
"The lady said to me, shocked, 'Eat it here.
679
00:56:35,849 --> 00:56:39,683
"'Just sit down in room 315
and read the whole book...
680
00:56:39,769 --> 00:56:42,761
"'... without a cup of coffee,
a cigarette or air.'
681
00:56:44,649 --> 00:56:46,207
"It doesn't matter.
682
00:56:46,289 --> 00:56:49,247
"Q quoted enough of it so I know I'll like it.
683
00:56:49,689 --> 00:56:53,045
"Anything he liked, I'll like,
except if it's fiction.
684
00:56:54,009 --> 00:56:56,000
"I never can get interested in things...
685
00:56:56,089 --> 00:57:00,128
"...that didn't happen
to people who never lived.
686
00:57:04,329 --> 00:57:08,402
"What do you do all day?
Sit in the back of the store and read?
687
00:57:08,809 --> 00:57:11,118
"Why not try selling a book to somebody?
688
00:57:12,769 --> 00:57:14,487
"Miss Hanff to you."
689
00:57:15,489 --> 00:57:19,482
Then in brackets she's got:
"I'm Helene only to my friends."
690
00:57:21,689 --> 00:57:23,281
Dear Miss Hanff.
691
00:57:24,129 --> 00:57:25,164
There's a P.S.
692
00:57:25,329 --> 00:57:29,720
"Tell the girls and Nora, if all goes well,
they're getting nylons for Lent."
693
00:57:39,649 --> 00:57:41,162
You must be feeling tired.
694
00:57:42,369 --> 00:57:43,358
Yeah.
695
00:57:47,129 --> 00:57:49,085
Not feeling too bad?
696
00:57:51,329 --> 00:57:52,682
Mustn't grumble.
697
00:58:10,769 --> 00:58:12,043
Good lad.
698
00:58:31,969 --> 00:58:33,925
Her show is not going to run.
699
00:58:34,889 --> 00:58:36,720
She's going to be home again shortly.
700
00:58:37,969 --> 00:58:40,164
So I'm going to look on 8th Avenue...
701
00:58:40,249 --> 00:58:43,798
...and 51st Street in the theatrical district
to see if I can find a flat.
702
00:58:43,889 --> 00:58:45,607
Oh, she'd love that.
703
00:58:45,689 --> 00:58:48,647
Now listen, Maxine.
I just saw your mother.
704
00:58:48,809 --> 00:58:51,369
She says you don"t think
the show will run a month...
705
00:58:51,449 --> 00:58:54,327
...and she says you took two dozen
pairs of nylons over there.
706
00:58:54,409 --> 00:58:55,888
So, do me a favour.
707
00:58:56,889 --> 00:59:00,768
As soon as the closing notice goes up,
take three pairs of nylons...
708
00:59:00,889 --> 00:59:04,165
...to the bookshop for me
and give them to Frank Doel.
709
00:59:04,689 --> 00:59:07,886
Tell him they're for the two girls
and Nora, his wife.
710
00:59:08,049 --> 00:59:12,884
Your mother says I am not to pay for them
as she got them at the sale at Saks.
711
00:59:13,409 --> 00:59:17,721
She'll donate them to the shop.
She's feeling pro-British.
712
00:59:19,729 --> 00:59:22,766
Ellery raised me to $250 a script.
713
00:59:23,289 --> 00:59:28,204
If it keeps up, l'll go to England
and browse around my bookshop myself.
714
00:59:31,649 --> 00:59:33,207
If I have the nerve.
715
00:59:33,289 --> 00:59:37,646
I write them the most outrageous letters
from a safe 3,000 miles away.
716
00:59:38,249 --> 00:59:40,160
I'd probably walk in there one day...
717
00:59:40,249 --> 00:59:43,082
...and walk right out again
without telling them who I am.
718
00:59:51,169 --> 00:59:53,524
Good dog! What a good girl you are!
719
00:59:55,169 --> 00:59:58,445
You're a good girl.
Come on. Let's go home!
720
01:00:04,529 --> 01:00:05,757
Dear Helene:
721
01:00:06,409 --> 01:00:09,367
We are at a loss to know
how you managed the nylons...
722
01:00:09,449 --> 01:00:11,679
...which appeared as if by magic.
723
01:00:12,649 --> 01:00:16,961
When I got back from lunch
they were on my desk with a note:
724
01:00:17,169 --> 01:00:18,921
"From Helene Hanff."
725
01:00:19,769 --> 01:00:22,761
No one seems to know
how or when they arrived.
726
01:00:23,009 --> 01:00:27,127
The girls are thrilled and are planning
to write to you themselves.
727
01:00:28,769 --> 01:00:33,684
I am sorry to say our friend,
Mr. George Martin, who has been so ill...
728
01:00:34,289 --> 01:00:36,723
...passed away in hospital last week.
729
01:00:37,369 --> 01:00:39,644
He was with the firm for many years.
730
01:00:39,729 --> 01:00:43,768
So, with that loss,
and the king dying so suddenly as well...
731
01:00:44,569 --> 01:00:47,527
...we are a rather mournful crowd
at the moment.
732
01:01:19,569 --> 01:01:20,968
Dear Helene:
733
01:01:21,129 --> 01:01:23,962
Your Ellery Queen scripts sound rather fun.
734
01:01:25,529 --> 01:01:28,919
I wish we could see them
on our TV over here.
735
01:01:29,489 --> 01:01:32,959
It wants livening up a bit.
Our TV, I mean, not your script.
736
01:01:36,329 --> 01:01:39,446
We"re all thrilled
that you"ll be coming to London.
737
01:01:39,569 --> 01:01:43,403
Do let us know when, so we can make
the necessary arrangements.
738
01:01:49,449 --> 01:01:53,203
Dear Helene: I am enclosing a few snaps.
739
01:01:53,449 --> 01:01:57,124
Frank says none of them do him justice,
he is much better looking...
740
01:01:57,689 --> 01:01:59,327
...but we just let him dream.
741
01:02:01,369 --> 01:02:05,647
Sheila was home on break
and we have been going to the seaside...
742
01:02:05,729 --> 01:02:07,481
...for day trips and sightseeing.
743
01:02:07,769 --> 01:02:12,160
Now we must pull in our horns a bit,
as the cost of transport here is terrific.
744
01:02:23,169 --> 01:02:26,127
Sheila is going to say
"a jolly good prayer" for you...
745
01:02:26,489 --> 01:02:29,242
...so you may get your wish
to come to England.
746
01:02:30,729 --> 01:02:35,280
So if "jolly good prayers" are answered,
you might have a windfall...
747
01:02:35,369 --> 01:02:37,280
...and be able to come and see us soon.
748
01:02:37,369 --> 01:02:39,837
Why does it always rain at the seaside?
749
01:02:39,929 --> 01:02:43,558
. What?
. Why does it always rain at the seaside?
750
01:02:46,569 --> 01:02:48,878
Why does it rain at the seaside?
751
01:02:53,009 --> 01:02:55,648
To bring the rents down in the hotels.
752
01:02:58,569 --> 01:03:02,118
You've got trouble with three
down on that side...
753
01:03:02,609 --> 01:03:04,964
...and one over there.
754
01:03:06,489 --> 01:03:11,085
We'll need to do extensive root canal work.
Then the teeth will have to be capped.
755
01:03:13,089 --> 01:03:15,045
How much will this cost?
756
01:03:15,329 --> 01:03:18,321
A lot. About $2,500.
757
01:03:21,729 --> 01:03:25,324
. That's for everything.
. Oh, God!
758
01:03:42,329 --> 01:03:46,163
Dear Frankie:
I trust you and Nora had a fine holiday.
759
01:03:46,249 --> 01:03:48,524
Mine was spent in Central Park.
760
01:03:48,769 --> 01:03:51,761
I had a month's vacation from Joey,
my dear dentist.
761
01:03:51,849 --> 01:03:54,522
He went on his honeymoon. I financed it.
762
01:03:55,769 --> 01:03:59,762
Did I tell you he told me I had to have
all my teeth capped or all my teeth out?
763
01:04:00,769 --> 01:04:04,125
I had them capped
as I have got used to having teeth.
764
01:04:05,089 --> 01:04:07,603
But the cost is simply astronomical.
765
01:04:08,929 --> 01:04:11,762
So Elizabeth will have to ascend the throne
without me.
766
01:04:11,849 --> 01:04:15,205
Teeth are all l'll see crowned
for the next couple of years.
767
01:04:18,209 --> 01:04:19,688
She's not coming.
768
01:04:22,369 --> 01:04:23,882
Not coming?
769
01:04:26,409 --> 01:04:28,639
Helene's not coming to London.
770
01:04:30,649 --> 01:04:32,162
Not for a bit anyway.
771
01:05:20,569 --> 01:05:23,561
As a new chapter in history
begins in Britain...
772
01:05:23,929 --> 01:05:28,320
...Pepperell presents
its world-famous sheets in classic white...
773
01:05:28,649 --> 01:05:31,163
...and in six beautiful coronation colours:
774
01:05:31,529 --> 01:05:35,283
...Princess Pink, Duchess Yellow,
Windsor Rose.
775
01:05:36,449 --> 01:05:40,840
Behind them in procession,
the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom:
776
01:05:42,929 --> 01:05:44,760
Sir Winston Churchill.
777
01:05:47,209 --> 01:05:49,359
The signal is given for a fanfare.
778
01:05:49,449 --> 01:05:50,802
Dear Helene:
779
01:05:50,889 --> 01:05:54,882
Just to let you know your parcel
arrived safely on June 1...
780
01:05:55,609 --> 01:05:58,407
...just in time
for our Coronation Day celebrations.
781
01:05:58,929 --> 01:06:03,400
We had some friends over on the day,
and so the ham was most welcome...
782
01:06:03,609 --> 01:06:06,919
...to provide them with something to eat.
It was delicious.
783
01:06:07,009 --> 01:06:10,126
We all drank to your health
as well as the queen"s.
784
01:06:10,849 --> 01:06:12,805
It's real ham, you know.
785
01:07:34,609 --> 01:07:35,962
Dear Frank:
786
01:07:36,449 --> 01:07:39,361
I'll be obliged if you send
Nora and the girls...
787
01:07:39,449 --> 01:07:42,441
...to church for the next month
to pray for...
788
01:07:42,529 --> 01:07:47,284
...the continued health and strength
of the Misters Gilliam, Reese, Snider...
789
01:07:47,369 --> 01:07:52,318
...Campanella, Robinson, Hodges, Furillo,
Podres, Newcombe and Labine...
790
01:07:52,569 --> 01:07:55,208
...collectively known
as the Brooklyn Dodgers.
791
01:07:57,329 --> 01:07:59,718
. I'm a Dodger fan!
. I'm a Yankee fan!
792
01:07:59,809 --> 01:08:02,960
If they lose this World Series,
l'll do myself in.
793
01:08:03,089 --> 01:08:05,000
Then where will you be?
794
01:08:10,449 --> 01:08:11,848
Dear Helene:
795
01:08:12,089 --> 01:08:15,843
I shall be only too pleased
to root for the Brooklyn Dodgers...
796
01:08:16,529 --> 01:08:19,885
...if you will reciprocate
by a few cheers for the Spurs...
797
01:08:20,689 --> 01:08:25,558
...the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club
who are at present languishing...
798
01:08:25,649 --> 01:08:28,322
...next to the bottom of the League.
799
01:08:28,409 --> 01:08:32,721
However, the season does not finish
until April, so they have time...
800
01:08:32,809 --> 01:08:34,720
...to get themselves out of the mess.
801
01:08:44,529 --> 01:08:47,760
Do you have a collection of
essays by George Orwell?
802
01:08:48,969 --> 01:08:52,757
The one I really want is called
Inside the Whale.
803
01:08:54,569 --> 01:08:57,800
I am not sure. Just a moment.
I'll have a look.
804
01:09:30,449 --> 01:09:32,679
We don't have Orwell's essays...
805
01:09:32,769 --> 01:09:36,478
...but I do have a nice first edition
of Animal Farm.
806
01:09:37,049 --> 01:09:39,438
I particularly wanted the essays.
807
01:09:39,889 --> 01:09:43,564
. Perhaps we could find them for you.
. I live in the States.
808
01:09:43,649 --> 01:09:46,959
That's no problem.
If you'd like to leave me your address...
809
01:09:47,249 --> 01:09:48,443
Oh, sure.
810
01:09:49,049 --> 01:09:51,324
I live in Wilmington, Delaware.
811
01:09:54,009 --> 01:09:55,840
How long will it take?
812
01:09:55,969 --> 01:10:00,360
If we find one through our usual contacts,
maybe a couple of weeks.
813
01:10:03,129 --> 01:10:07,759
"Had I the heavens" embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light
814
01:10:09,769 --> 01:10:14,889
"The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light
815
01:10:15,729 --> 01:10:19,005
"I would spread the cloths under your feet
816
01:10:19,089 --> 01:10:21,728
"But I, being poor, have only my dreams
817
01:10:23,009 --> 01:10:25,682
"I have spread my dreams under your feet
818
01:10:26,729 --> 01:10:30,244
"Tread softly because you tread
on my dreams"
819
01:10:37,089 --> 01:10:40,877
. What the hell are you doing?
. I'm minding my own business.
820
01:10:40,969 --> 01:10:42,687
What are you doing?
821
01:10:43,049 --> 01:10:46,121
You can't do that! Put that light back!
822
01:10:46,329 --> 01:10:49,207
. Who says?
. I say, and I live here!
823
01:10:49,289 --> 01:10:51,325
Not for much longer, lady.
824
01:10:58,969 --> 01:11:02,962
Dear Frank:
The sky fell on us in this cosy brownstone.
825
01:11:03,049 --> 01:11:07,042
We got eviction notices last month.
They"re renovating the building.
826
01:11:07,129 --> 01:11:11,281
They decided the time had come for me
to get a real apartment with real furniture.
827
01:11:11,369 --> 01:11:15,806
So shaking all over, I went
to the construction site of a building...
828
01:11:15,889 --> 01:11:19,518
...going up on 2nd Avenue
and signed a lease...
829
01:11:19,969 --> 01:11:22,847
...on a two and a half
bed-sitter apartment...
830
01:11:23,689 --> 01:11:25,725
...that isn"t even there yet.
831
01:11:34,489 --> 01:11:38,084
Dear Helene: Prepare yourself for a shock.
832
01:11:39,169 --> 01:11:42,127
All three books that you last requested
in your last letter...
833
01:11:42,209 --> 01:11:45,724
...are on their way to you
and should arrive in a week.
834
01:11:45,809 --> 01:11:49,882
Don't ask how we managed it,
it's just part of the Marks" service.
835
01:11:51,289 --> 01:11:54,167
Times Square is jammed
with jubilant New Yorkers...
836
01:11:54,249 --> 01:11:58,242
...and visitors celebrating the New Year.
837
01:11:58,449 --> 01:12:03,159
The bright lights of Broadway shining on
nearly a million festive folks.
838
01:12:03,769 --> 01:12:05,282
The sign of the times.
839
01:12:05,369 --> 01:12:08,008
Happy New Year!
840
01:12:10,369 --> 01:12:13,918
Sunday night and a hell of a way
to start 1960.
841
01:12:15,169 --> 01:12:16,488
I don't know.
842
01:12:16,569 --> 01:12:19,322
Somebody gave me this book
for Christmas.
843
01:12:19,889 --> 01:12:23,245
A Great Modern Library book.
Ever seen one of those?
844
01:12:23,529 --> 01:12:25,281
It's less attractively bound...
845
01:12:25,369 --> 01:12:28,008
...than the Proceedings
of the New York State Assembly...
846
01:12:28,089 --> 01:12:29,681
...and weighs more.
847
01:12:30,049 --> 01:12:33,724
It was a given to me by a gent
who knows l'm fond of John Donne.
848
01:12:34,569 --> 01:12:36,605
The title of this book is:
849
01:12:36,769 --> 01:12:42,127
The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose
of John Donne...
850
01:12:42,649 --> 01:12:47,598
...and the Complete Poetry
of William Blake?
851
01:12:49,609 --> 01:12:53,568
The question mark is mine.
Please tell me what those two boys...
852
01:12:53,649 --> 01:12:57,608
...have in common except
they were both English...
853
01:12:57,769 --> 01:12:59,521
...and they both wrote.
854
01:13:02,169 --> 01:13:06,765
"When, as a boy, William Blake saw
the prophet Ezekiel under a tree...
855
01:13:06,849 --> 01:13:11,639
"...amid a summer field,
he was soundly trounced by his mother."
856
01:13:13,329 --> 01:13:14,842
I'm with his mother.
857
01:13:14,929 --> 01:13:19,605
I mean, the back of the Lord God,
the face of the Virgin Mary, all right.
858
01:13:20,609 --> 01:13:24,284
But why the hell would anybody
want to see the prophet Ezekiel?
859
01:13:27,689 --> 01:13:31,841
But the crucial word in all that
is "selected."
860
01:13:32,849 --> 01:13:36,558
The Selected Prose of John Donne!
861
01:13:39,889 --> 01:13:43,643
Here I was, in my armchair,
so at peace with the whole world...
862
01:13:44,169 --> 01:13:46,763
...something old and serene on the radio.
863
01:13:46,849 --> 01:13:50,603
Corelli or somebody,
and this thing on the table.
864
01:13:51,729 --> 01:13:54,562
This Giant Modern Library thing.
865
01:13:56,569 --> 01:13:58,002
So I thought:
866
01:13:58,449 --> 01:14:01,122
"I will read one of the sermons aloud."
867
01:14:01,569 --> 01:14:03,764
You have to read Donne aloud.
868
01:14:04,929 --> 01:14:06,840
It's like a Bach fugue.
869
01:14:16,209 --> 01:14:19,645
"All mankind is one volume.
870
01:14:20,809 --> 01:14:24,802
"When one man dies,
one chapter is not torn out of the book...
871
01:14:25,329 --> 01:14:27,968
"...but translated into a better language.
872
01:14:30,329 --> 01:14:33,560
"And every chapter must be so translated.
873
01:14:35,249 --> 01:14:37,558
"God employs several translators.
874
01:14:38,129 --> 01:14:42,805
"Some pieces are translated by age,
some by sickness...
875
01:14:44,929 --> 01:14:46,806
"...some by war...
876
01:14:49,209 --> 01:14:50,847
"...some by justice.
877
01:14:52,169 --> 01:14:56,162
"But God's hand shall bind up
all our scattered leaves again...
878
01:14:57,729 --> 01:14:59,321
"...for that library...
879
01:14:59,409 --> 01:15:03,243
"...where every book shall lie
open to one another."
880
01:15:13,969 --> 01:15:15,925
Dizzy with Donne.
881
01:15:16,809 --> 01:15:21,007
I craved for more, but the closet was bare.
882
01:15:21,489 --> 01:15:23,480
Selected prose, remember?
883
01:15:24,569 --> 01:15:26,127
Break it to me gently.
884
01:15:26,209 --> 01:15:29,326
How hard will it be to find
the great man"s complete sermons...
885
01:15:30,209 --> 01:15:32,245
...and how much will it cost?
886
01:15:38,649 --> 01:15:42,847
You know, Frankie,
you're the only soul who understands me.
887
01:15:53,329 --> 01:15:54,728
Dear Helene:
888
01:15:55,089 --> 01:15:57,478
Some time ago,
you asked for a modern version...
889
01:15:57,569 --> 01:15:59,799
...of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
890
01:16:00,489 --> 01:16:03,925
I came across a little volume
which I thought you would like.
891
01:16:04,689 --> 01:16:09,080
It is not complete by any means,
but as it is quite a cheap book...
892
01:16:09,169 --> 01:16:14,482
...and seems to be a fairly scholarly job,
I am sending it along by book post today.
893
01:16:14,609 --> 01:16:17,203
Price: $1.35.
894
01:16:17,289 --> 01:16:18,642
It looks very nice.
895
01:16:20,289 --> 01:16:23,167
We are all well and jogging along as usual.
896
01:16:23,729 --> 01:16:28,245
My eldest daughter, Sheila, 24,
suddenly decided to be a teacher...
897
01:16:28,609 --> 01:16:32,921
...so threw up her secretarial job
two years ago to go to college.
898
01:16:35,529 --> 01:16:39,966
She has another year to go, so it will be
a long time before our children...
899
01:16:40,049 --> 01:16:42,199
...will be able to keep us in luxury.
900
01:16:43,249 --> 01:16:45,604
Love from all here, Frank.
901
01:17:16,329 --> 01:17:18,240
Very nice. Very tasty.
902
01:17:23,409 --> 01:17:25,969
It's been 12 years
since I was in London with that play.
903
01:17:26,049 --> 01:17:29,086
. I don't believe it.
. It's more than 12 years. It was...
904
01:17:29,289 --> 01:17:31,598
That's enough Chaucer-made-easy.
905
01:17:31,729 --> 01:17:35,517
It has the schoolroom smell of
Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare.
906
01:17:36,129 --> 01:17:37,562
I'm glad I read it.
907
01:17:37,649 --> 01:17:40,641
I liked reading about the nun
who ate so dainty with her fingers...
908
01:17:40,729 --> 01:17:44,768
...she never dripped any grease on herself.
I could never make that claim.
909
01:17:45,969 --> 01:17:49,598
Wasn't anything else intrigued me much,
it's just stories.
910
01:17:50,089 --> 01:17:53,445
If Chaucer had kept a diary,
telling what it was like to be a clerk...
911
01:17:53,529 --> 01:17:57,044
...in the palace of Richard III,
that l'd learn Old English for.
912
01:17:58,409 --> 01:18:01,719
"The reader will not credit
that such things could be..."
913
01:18:02,609 --> 01:18:04,486
...Walton says somewhere or other...
914
01:18:06,209 --> 01:18:09,485
"...but I was there and I saw it."
915
01:18:11,009 --> 01:18:14,285
That"s for me.
I'm a great lover of "I was there" books.
916
01:18:15,089 --> 01:18:18,001
. It was a rotten play.
. I thought you liked it.
917
01:18:18,089 --> 01:18:19,442
I hated it.
918
01:18:23,249 --> 01:18:26,685
You should be grateful.
That play took you to London.
919
01:18:28,289 --> 01:18:30,359
Remember how jealous I was?
920
01:18:31,449 --> 01:18:32,723
You were.
921
01:18:33,289 --> 01:18:35,086
I was.
922
01:18:39,529 --> 01:18:40,518
I was!
923
01:18:46,089 --> 01:18:49,126
Dear Helene: Good to hear from you again.
924
01:18:50,409 --> 01:18:54,527
We're still here,
getting older and busier, but no richer.
925
01:18:56,089 --> 01:18:59,559
We had a pleasant summer
with more tourists than usual...
926
01:19:00,049 --> 01:19:03,724
...including hordes of young people
making the pilgrimage to Carnaby Street.
927
01:19:04,569 --> 01:19:06,719
We watch it all from a safe distance.
928
01:19:06,809 --> 01:19:09,687
Though I must say,
I rather like The Beatles.
929
01:19:10,289 --> 01:19:12,803
If the fans just wouldn't scream so.
930
01:19:15,489 --> 01:19:18,128
We have not heard
from Cecily Farr for some years now.
931
01:19:18,729 --> 01:19:23,007
Megan Wells had enough of South Africa
after a short time, and stopped in...
932
01:19:23,089 --> 01:19:27,879
...to let us say, "I told you so,"
before trying her luck in Australia.
933
01:19:29,649 --> 01:19:31,287
Will you lock up?
934
01:19:34,489 --> 01:19:36,957
We had a Christmas card from her
a few years ago...
935
01:19:37,049 --> 01:19:38,846
...but nothing recently.
936
01:19:40,049 --> 01:19:42,927
Nora and the girls join me in sending love.
937
01:19:43,849 --> 01:19:44,918
Frank.
938
01:20:05,729 --> 01:20:06,718
Frank.
939
01:20:08,209 --> 01:20:09,767
You still there?
940
01:20:11,849 --> 01:20:13,601
Still alive, are we?
941
01:20:14,209 --> 01:20:17,167
I swore I wouldn't write until I found work.
942
01:20:18,009 --> 01:20:20,045
Sold a story to Harper's magazine.
943
01:20:20,729 --> 01:20:24,165
Slaved over it three weeks.
They paid me $200 for it.
944
01:20:24,569 --> 01:20:27,800
Now they've got me writing a story
of my life in a book.
945
01:20:29,089 --> 01:20:30,442
How about you, Frank?
946
01:20:33,169 --> 01:20:36,923
Yes. We're all very much alive
and kicking...
947
01:20:37,609 --> 01:20:40,282
...though rather exhausted
after a hectic summer.
948
01:20:41,569 --> 01:20:42,968
Now, listen.
949
01:20:43,169 --> 01:20:46,684
I introduced a young friend
to Pride and Prejudice one rainy Sunday.
950
01:20:47,529 --> 01:20:52,000
She's gone crazy for Jane Austen.
She has a birthday around Halloween.
951
01:20:53,289 --> 01:20:55,280
Can you find me some Austen for her?
952
01:20:57,769 --> 01:20:59,043
I know you can.
953
01:20:59,529 --> 01:21:04,045
There's no hope of finding any Jane Austen
in time for your friend's birthday.
954
01:21:04,809 --> 01:21:08,165
We've had hordes of tourists
from the U.S. A...
955
01:21:08,329 --> 01:21:12,880
...France, Scandinavia, etc.,
all buying our nice, leather. Bound books.
956
01:21:13,009 --> 01:21:15,443
So our stock is a sorry sight
at the moment.
957
01:21:15,969 --> 01:21:18,199
But perhaps we can find them
for Christmas.
958
01:21:18,289 --> 01:21:20,325
Are you a grandfather yet?
959
01:21:20,649 --> 01:21:24,119
Tell Sheila and Mary that children
are entitled to presentation copies...
960
01:21:24,209 --> 01:21:26,165
...of my Collected Juvenile Works.
961
01:21:27,329 --> 01:21:29,604
That should make them rush out
and reproduce.
962
01:21:31,329 --> 01:21:34,605
Best to Nora and anybody else around.
963
01:21:37,729 --> 01:21:41,608
Nora and the girls are fine.
Sheila is teaching.
964
01:21:41,809 --> 01:21:44,277
Mary is engaged to a very nice boy.
965
01:21:44,569 --> 01:21:47,641
But there is little hope of marriage
for the time being...
966
01:21:47,729 --> 01:21:49,401
...as neither has any money!
967
01:21:49,489 --> 01:21:52,083
So Nora's hopes of being
a glamorous grandmother...
968
01:21:52,169 --> 01:21:53,841
...are receding fast.
969
01:21:54,209 --> 01:21:56,245
Love, Frank.
970
01:22:06,609 --> 01:22:09,521
There are hundreds of plainclothesmen
in our midst.
971
01:22:10,329 --> 01:22:13,685
Many of them are under orders
to beat up the leaders.
972
01:22:14,369 --> 01:22:16,724
This is clearly a political...
973
01:22:17,689 --> 01:22:21,648
...activity, a political action on the part
of the Administration.
974
01:22:21,729 --> 01:22:23,162
They won"t get amnesty.
975
01:22:23,249 --> 01:22:27,527
I think there"s going to be a solution,
so I don"t think it will go on.
976
01:22:49,969 --> 01:22:53,041
. What's going on?
. Back on the other side of the cordon, lady.
977
01:22:54,329 --> 01:22:58,288
. I asked you a civil question.
. No demonstrations allowed on campus.
978
01:22:58,369 --> 01:23:01,645
. Who says?
. Lady, aren't you too old to be doing this?
979
01:23:01,729 --> 01:23:03,401
Go home and bake an apple pie.
980
01:23:03,489 --> 01:23:06,322
You go home and bake an apple pie
or something!
981
01:23:06,409 --> 01:23:11,324
All right, lady. Make yourself happy.
You get right in here with your friends.
982
01:23:11,409 --> 01:23:15,721
I want to say something. Don't go away!
Wait a minute. I want to say something.
983
01:23:53,489 --> 01:23:57,801
There'll be no easy solution to the student
sit-in on the Columbia campus.
984
01:23:58,769 --> 01:24:03,320
We want to point out that black students
occupy this building.
985
01:24:03,889 --> 01:24:07,245
We are going into Harlem
and bolster support there.
986
01:24:07,609 --> 01:24:10,840
So if Columbia doesn"t want to deal
with the brothers here...
987
01:24:10,929 --> 01:24:13,523
...they'll deal with them on the street.
988
01:24:58,369 --> 01:24:59,927
Why are you here today?
989
01:25:00,009 --> 01:25:04,241
We're not concerned
with the sit-ins themselves or the arrests.
990
01:25:04,369 --> 01:25:07,281
We don't think there's
any civil liberties issues...
991
01:25:07,369 --> 01:25:09,405
...involved in arresting people...
992
01:25:09,489 --> 01:25:13,368
...after they've occupied buildings
on an illegal basis.
993
01:25:17,889 --> 01:25:21,518
January 8, 1969. Dear Miss:
994
01:25:21,929 --> 01:25:26,445
I have just come across the letter
you wrote Mr. Doel last September 30.
995
01:25:27,289 --> 01:25:29,280
It is with great regret I tell you...
996
01:25:29,369 --> 01:25:32,520
...that he passed away
on Sunday, December 22.
997
01:25:33,249 --> 01:25:37,037
The funeral took place last week
on Wednesday, January 1.
998
01:25:37,649 --> 01:25:42,643
He was rushed to hospital December 15,
and operated on for a ruptured appendix.
999
01:25:43,569 --> 01:25:48,085
Unfortunately, peritonitis set in
and he died seven days later.
1000
01:25:48,929 --> 01:25:51,727
He had been with the firm over 40 years.
1001
01:25:51,809 --> 01:25:54,846
Naturally, it has come as a great shock
to Mr. Cohen...
1002
01:25:55,449 --> 01:25:59,044
...particularly coming so soon
after the death of Mr. Marks.
1003
01:26:00,049 --> 01:26:03,519
Do you still wish us to obtain
the books you asked for?
1004
01:26:04,849 --> 01:26:07,283
Yours faithfully, P.P. Marks & Co.
1005
01:26:07,729 --> 01:26:10,289
Joan Todd (Mrs.), Secretary.
1006
01:26:27,809 --> 01:26:29,208
Dear Helene:
1007
01:26:29,809 --> 01:26:32,323
Thank you for your very kind letter.
1008
01:26:32,609 --> 01:26:34,361
Nothing about it at all offends me.
1009
01:26:35,649 --> 01:26:39,961
I only wish that you had met Frank
and known him personally.
1010
01:26:41,369 --> 01:26:46,159
He was the most well-adjusted person
with a marvellous sense of humour.
1011
01:26:47,729 --> 01:26:50,289
And now, I realise, such a modest person...
1012
01:26:51,289 --> 01:26:54,645
...as l've had letters from all over
to pay him tribute.
1013
01:26:54,729 --> 01:26:58,688
And so many people in the book trade say
he was so knowledgeable...
1014
01:26:59,609 --> 01:27:03,284
...and imparted his knowledge
with kindness to all and sundry.
1015
01:27:04,409 --> 01:27:07,048
If you wish, I could send them to you.
1016
01:27:10,249 --> 01:27:14,606
At times, I don't mind telling you,
I was very jealous of you...
1017
01:27:15,729 --> 01:27:17,799
...as Frank so enjoyed your letters...
1018
01:27:18,169 --> 01:27:21,206
...and they, or some,
were so like his sense of humour.
1019
01:27:22,609 --> 01:27:25,123
Also, I envied your writing ability.
1020
01:27:26,969 --> 01:27:29,722
Frank and I were so very much opposites.
1021
01:27:30,809 --> 01:27:32,686
He so kind and gentle...
1022
01:27:33,449 --> 01:27:36,600
...and me with my Irish background
always fighting for my rights.
1023
01:27:40,209 --> 01:27:41,483
I miss him so.
1024
01:27:43,209 --> 01:27:45,165
Life was so interesting.
1025
01:27:46,089 --> 01:27:51,038
He, always explaining and trying
to teach me something of books.
1026
01:27:54,369 --> 01:27:57,679
My girls are wonderful,
and in this I am lucky.
1027
01:27:59,489 --> 01:28:02,242
I suppose so many like me are all alone.
1028
01:28:03,529 --> 01:28:05,485
Please excuse my scrawl.
1029
01:28:06,329 --> 01:28:07,921
With love, Nora.
1030
01:28:14,409 --> 01:28:16,127
Dear Kay and Brian:
1031
01:28:16,449 --> 01:28:20,283
I take time out from cleaning
my bookshelves and sitting on the rug...
1032
01:28:20,369 --> 01:28:24,442
...surrounded by books everywhere.
I wish you a bon voyage.
1033
01:28:25,369 --> 01:28:29,965
I hope you and Brian have a ball in London.
Maybe it's just as well I never got there.
1034
01:28:31,009 --> 01:28:33,284
I dreamed about it for so many years.
1035
01:28:33,849 --> 01:28:37,205
I used to go to English movies
just to look at the streets.
1036
01:28:39,249 --> 01:28:42,559
Years ago, a guy I knew told me
that people going to England find...
1037
01:28:42,649 --> 01:28:44,640
...exactly what they're looking for.
1038
01:28:45,689 --> 01:28:48,999
I said l'd go looking for
the England of English literature.
1039
01:28:49,089 --> 01:28:51,762
He nodded and said, "It's there."
1040
01:28:54,649 --> 01:28:56,287
Maybe it is and maybe it isn't.
1041
01:28:57,569 --> 01:28:59,924
Looking around the rug,
one thing's for sure.
1042
01:29:02,489 --> 01:29:03,683
It's here.
1043
01:29:08,929 --> 01:29:12,842
The blessed man who sold me all my books
died a few months ago.
1044
01:29:14,209 --> 01:29:16,962
And Mr. Marks
who owned the shop is dead.
1045
01:29:18,569 --> 01:29:20,400
But Marks & Co. Is still there...
1046
01:29:21,129 --> 01:29:24,565
...though there's some talk
that it might be demolished, God forbid!
1047
01:29:29,369 --> 01:29:32,202
If you happen to pass
by 84 Charing Cross Road...
1048
01:29:33,049 --> 01:29:34,323
...kiss it for me!
1049
01:29:34,809 --> 01:29:36,208
I owe it so much.
1050
01:30:37,369 --> 01:30:38,722
Hello.
1051
01:30:39,089 --> 01:30:43,128
I have a brochure from a long time ago
for trips to London.
1052
01:30:44,129 --> 01:30:46,359
I know they don't cost $359 anymore, but...
1053
01:30:47,329 --> 01:30:50,605
...could you let me know
what would it cost?
1054
01:31:27,129 --> 01:31:30,883
Here I am, Frankie. I finally made it.
1055
01:31:31,305 --> 01:31:37,311
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